I was there to give feedback on the first draft of his new novel ‘Psychosis’ and it was a fabulous experience.

It was also a pretty nerve-wracking, daunting experience too as I have never met Tony before so I had no idea what sort of person he was, or even if this whole thing was a scam and I would end up chopped into a thousand tiny pieces and never seen again…

My fears were, fortunately, unfounded. I was welcomed into Tony’s home and made to feel incredibly welcome. There were 3 of us ‘newbies’, 2 in person and 1 by skype plus 4 more seasoned members of the feedback group.

It was a fascinating experience and I feel incredibly fortunate to have taken part. The other people in the group were all lovely and time flew by as we all offered our thoughts (while being plied with coffee and pastries). Tony ran the process like a well oiled machine and took compliments and criticisms all with the same gentle humour and easy manner. This made it very easy to be completely honest and I think it was brave of him to open himself up to opinions in this way.

The book itself (another thing I was dreading – what if it was awful?!) was really good. I obviously can’t give any spoilers (and will review it on my book review site in due course) but it is a really strong storyline and Tony’s characterisation and descriptive writing are simply superb.

I hope to see these lovely people again and I have already downloaded some of Tony’s other books to read!

On day 21 of National Novel Writing Month, I have a day off work. Yesterday I told myself that I would use this day off to catch up and write approximately 10,000 words. It seemed sensible, wise and infinitely doable.

Today, however, this is actually the first time I have sat at my keyboard. Not a good start to the 10,000 words bearing in mind that it is already 11:43.

I haven’t done anything of great import with my morning, I’ve read a book, The Reader, I’ve had tea and toast and played with Tilly, I’ve had a shower and I am now sitting here with wet hair.

In the shower the thoughts behind this post came to me and it is purely to write this post (and not the 10,000 words which I will, of course, somehow find time for…later) that I am sitting here. It was during these thoughts that I acknowledged the following:

* I have no idea if I will be able to finish #NaNoWriMo

* I am determined to finish it because I am too stubborn for my own good, sometimes

* What I have written so far is mostly amateurish tripe

* I huge new-found huge and deep respect for anyone who writes an entire book, not just ones I deem to be good but anyone, anywhere who can devote the time and motivation to writing an entire book – you are awesome

* When I can access my keyboard it is as though those thoughts and words have to take such a convoluted path to reach the page that by the time they come out they have lost half of themselves along the way and mostly end up as jumbled, meaningless, uninspiring and excruciatingly amateurish tripe

Now, I will no doubt find some un-urgent chores to attend to thus increasing the pressure upon myself to complete the word count. In the meantime, I hope you have hit your stride and are writing the new bestseller.